I stumbled on these videos which seem so far (I haven’t made my way through all of them) to be largely about the ugly business of settling Jerry estate. It turns out as we now know Mr. Irwin was the only non Garcia mentioned in Jerry's will. Wow. Kind of glum subject matter but really cool at the same time. Thanks BBC!

I totally agree, why wasn't MG allowed on the boat? She was a much larger part of JG's life and the history of the scene than Koons. I came away with the idea that she is making lots of money by exploiting his name and memory/estate or whatever and I just wonder where she feels she gets the right? Because she was married to him for the last year or so of his life?! I found it interesting too that putting part of JG's ashes in the Ganges wasn't in his wishes. I dunno, the video left a bad taste in my mouth.

Goin' home, goin' home
By the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I do find it refreshing that Jerry's children, when speakig about their dad and the whole Koons, MG, Irwin, GD Production, Ashes in Ganges, etc. mess, maintain a certain decorum and politeness that is commendable. I have not seen or read one interview where they have spoken ill about any of the actors involved in these dramas. I only wish the rest of the gang would learn from their wisdom and grace.

I'm CERTAINLY not going to defend Deborah in any way - everything I've ever read about her makes me scratch my head in amazement that ol' Jer would ever take up with such a woman. BUT, he was involved with this woman LONG before they were married. Back & forth between her & MG for a long, long time.

If you haven't ever checked out this book - it's the veritable shiznit:

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia

It's real sad, the one part that sticks out is everyone attempting to capitalize financially on his death. Koons with her estate stuff, Irwin selling those guitars immediately, the band still playing as GD, Mountaingirl with her settlement. It all seems to go against Jerry's percieved laid back mentality, I mean how could he be surrounded most of his life by greedy money mongers, yet convey the ho-hum attitude he had. Were we all duped by this, was it his act? Was he really like them or was he what we thought he was? Could being surrounded by these people cause him to escape on H ? Puzzeling shit. Sad.

timothydarcangelo wrote:It's real sad, the one part that sticks out is everyone attempting to capitalize financially on his death. Koons with her estate stuff, Irwin selling those guitars immediately, the band still playing as GD, Mountaingirl with her settlement. It all seems to go against Jerry's percieved laid back mentality, I mean how could he be surrounded most of his life by greedy money mongers, yet convey the ho-hum attitude he had. Were we all duped by this, was it his act? Was he really like them or was he what we thought he was? Could being surrounded by these people cause him to escape on H ? Puzzeling shit. Sad.

I still haven't been able to watch this video....so please correct me if there's something in it that goes against these statements, but:

1. It was my impression that Irwin sold the guitars because he was financially destitute after his accident.

2. The band still playing as the GD? They didn't play together at ALL until 2000, from my recollection and, when they did, they were called The Other Ones, before changing to just The Dead several years later.

3. As laid back as Jerry was, I would imagine he knew his value, monetarily speaking. He wouldn't simply do just anything for nothing. I always thought that the whole band - during the last 3-4 years of their existence - barely spoke to each other and wanted to fold the whole thing up and go their seperate ways, but DIDN'T because all of their friends would be out of jobs.

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia

Family squabbles, estate settlements, MG was this, Deborah Koons was that. Does anyone here even know these people personally? I doubt it. If MG was so great why wasn't Jerry still with her? If DK was so bad why was Jerry in love with her?

I do know that family squabbles especially when they are dealing with estates are almost always touchy subjects. Add to the fact that we are talking about a very wealthy individual with quite a legacy.

My two cents is that no one here knows any of these people personally so to speculate on who was right, who was wrong, who was being a douche, etc it's all just based on your perception and really has no basis on actual facts. You weren't a part of it. IF you do know them, well then my bad. Even if you come back at me and say "Well I read in this book...". That book is from someone's point of view and there is probably at least one other book out there that counters that POV.

pappypgh wrote:3. As laid back as Jerry was, I would imagine he knew his value, monetarily speaking. He wouldn't simply do just anything for nothing. I always thought that the whole band - during the last 3-4 years of their existence - barely spoke to each other and wanted to fold the whole thing up and go their seperate ways, but DIDN'T because all of their friends would be out of jobs.

as his daughter stated, jerry somehow thought that he owned and bought those guitars outright and i have to take the rest of the bands stance that they were paid for from the bands money and not directly out of jerrys pocket. sooo, they did have a point to an extent. that said, if he wanted to leave them to Irwin, i think the band should have respected his wishes wholeheartedly and bought them at the auction or before the auction ever took place. they knew Irwin was going to sell them and tried to stop them from going to an underground collector. luckily that didn;t happen and while wolf is accessable to the some, tiger from what i hear may be making it's own little tour one day for all of us to get a look at.

in the end, i don't believe they wanted to fold things up, it was more that they were getting too big for there own act. they missed the intimate theatres and wanted to get back to that. if jer was alive they probably would have the much anticipated terrapin station VENUE somewhere so that all the travelling would seize and if you wanted to catch a show, you'd have to a) have a ticket and b) go to them probably somewhere in california. they were brothers and find it hard to believe that animosity was going to kill it. the size of there audience was crushing them. the music was getting lost and that was the most important thing to all of them.

"Once in awhile, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places, if you look at it right." - R. Hunter

"If we had any nerve at all, if we had any real balls as a society, or whatever you need, whatever quality you need, real character, we would make an effort to really address the wrongs in this society, righteously." - Jerry Garcia